"Probably the best sales man I've ever seen:" Hundreds fall victim to 'help our soldiers' scam

BALTIMORE -- The opportunity to make some money while helping United States troops seems like a no-brainer -- but this was actually a scam -- and an effort to trick people out of their money.

"He is probably the best sales man I`ve ever seen in my entire life. He was just believable," Larry Helminiak said.

Gargoyles, Inc.

"He" is Jef Curran, founder and president of Gargoyles, Inc. -- an "advanced materials application" company.

"The uniqueness is that all clothes were woven two-dimensionally. He developed a method of weaving them three-dimensionally so that when he was finished making his project they were bulletproof. He was telling people he had contracts with military of foreign countries," Helminiak said.

Curran knew what he was doing. In one year, he sold more than $1.9 million worth of stock in his company, promising ten times the return.

It was an easy sell.

Gargoyles, Inc.

"It could even be used on the outside of Humvees instead of steel. In that way, people in the audience would say 'geeze, this is a great investment. We`d be helping our soldiers,'" Helminiak said.

However, it was all a lie.

As victims started asking questions, they realized there were problems.

Gargoyles, Inc.

"And when I went in it was him and his secretary and a big empty building with no one working. If he has all of these multi-million dollar orders across the world, someone should be making the product," Helminiak said.

There were more than 200 victims.

Postal inspectors say there is one thing you should do before investing.

"If the investment is a sound investment, the opportunity will still be there for you to invest after you have had
the chance to do your research to find out about the company," Frank Schissler, U.S. postal inspector said.